"Good for him" Jon Rahm hits back at Phil Mickelson over major claims

Jon Rahm disagrees with Phil Mickelson over his claims that LIV Golf players are fresher for the majors this season.

30 May 2023

"Good for him" Jon Rahm hits back at Phil Mickelson over major analysis

Jon Rahm hit back at Phil Mickelson's claims that LIV Golf League players are fresher for the majors when speaking to the media ahead of this week's Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour.

Rahm, who is one of our five picks on GolfMagic Fantasy at Muirfield Village this week, disagrees with Mickelson's recent tweet that those on LIV Golf are in much better condition to contend in the four major championships as a result of their schedule.

Love LIV or hate it, it’s the best way/Tour to be your best in the majors. Enough events to keep you sharp, fresh and ready, yet not be worn down from too many tournaments or obligations. 14 LIV events, 34 weeks left open to prepare for the 4 majors. Fact.
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) May 23, 2023

Last week, Mickelson said:

"Love LIV or hate it, it’s the best way/Tour to be your best in the majors. Enough events to keep you sharp, fresh and ready, yet not be worn down from too many tournaments or obligations. 14 LIV events, 34 weeks left open to prepare for the 4 majors. Fact."

Mickelson wrote that tweet two days after LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka won his third US PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

To provide some context to Mickelson's tweet, Rahm (who finished T50 at the US PGA) had played in 11 tournaments on the PGA Tour in 2023 prior to the second major of the season as a result of the PGA Tour's new designated events structure.

Those on LIV Golf had played six.

Here's how all 16 LIV Golf players got on at the US PGA

Rahm, who won the first major of the season at The Masters, was pressed on Lefty's latest comments ahead of competing on the PGA Tour this week where he goes in search of a second Memorial title:

"Well, listen, Phil is a friend of mine, but what else is he going to say? Right? He's obviously going to advocate for his side and that's perfectly fine.

"I mean, listen, there's many ways to prepare for a tournament, and my schedule has not changed really. Like, I played 19 events last year from Tournament of Champions to Tour Championship and it will be the same this year. It's been the same pretty much every year. So it doesn't change my schedule, it's just what tournaments I have played. That's it. I don't really feel any different about it.

"I have heard Phil's comments and, well, if he believes it to be true it's good for him. I don't know, it's hard to say. There's been so many different ways of tackling major tournament golf. Phil himself used to always play the week before. Tiger [Woods] and Jack [Nicklaus] didn't play the week before. So who says one way is better than the other."

GolfMagic Editor @AndyRobertsGolf believes Patrick Cantlay is the man to beat at the Memorial Tournament this week:
https://t.co/F5IQ2wSHog
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) May 30, 2023

In total, there are 17 designated events (including the four majors) on the PGA Tour.

As Rahm mentions in his quotes above, he intends to play 19 official events during the course of his season.

On LIV Golf, there are 14 events in total but these events are spaced out much more than on the PGA Tour with tournaments running from February through to November.

The PGA Tour season ends in August.

LIV Golf Schedule | PGA Tour Schedule

Read more: https://t.co/lJPzFX1KKb
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) May 26, 2023

LIV Golf players eligible to compete in the majors (such as Koepka, Cameron Smith and Dustin Johnson) then have those on top, taking them to a maximum of 18 events during the season.

All of the biggest-named PGA Tour players are permitted to bypass one of the designated events in order to collect their allocated Player Impact Program (PIP) money.

Rory McIlroy was penalised $3m as a result of skipping two designated events already this season.

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